Merry Little Christmas: A Dino Thunder Short
by PhantomSilverCrystal
Summary: Set six months after the end of Dino Thunder, Kira, Trent, Conner, and Ethan decide to decorate a Christmas tree for their favorite teacher. Happy Holidays!


_Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light. From now on, our troubles will be out of sight. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Make the yuletide gay. From now on our troubles will be miles away. Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore. Faithful friends, who are dear to us, gather near to us once more. Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow. So hang the brightest star upon the highest bough. So have yourself a merry little Christmas, now._

* * *

"Trent! Look! It's snowing!" Kira exclaimed happily from the windowsill. She loved snow, which was an unfortunate oddity in Reefside. In the highly unusual case that it was ever cold enough for snow, it was nowhere near humid enough, but that day must have been special. She smiled happily as large, fluffy flakes drifted from the night sky.

The boys gathered around the tree they'd propped up in Dr. Oliver's living room, hanging ornaments they had bought at the dime store, as well as a few they'd made on their own. Green, and white, and red, all the typical Christmas colors that held a special meaning to their teacher. Conner had thought it was funny, and laughed loud enough to get a warning from the store's manager about noise.

"Yeah, yeah. That's nice, babe," Conner cut in now, annoyed at Kira's observation. "But Dr. O will be home soon and if we don't get this finished, then he's gonna catch us and ruin everything."

"Hate to admit it, but Conner's got a point." Trent said, opening another box of bulbs. Sighing, dreamily, he added, "I do love snow, though."

"I don't see what's so great about it." Ethan shot. "It's just cold rain. Who cares?"

"Take your coat off, Ethe." Kira urged. He looked silly, curled up on Dr. O's couch in an oversized puffy coat, the exact shade of blue as his mittens.

"Why should I?" He barked grumpily. He hated the cold, hated the winter, and most of all hated the forced merriment of Christmas. "It's not like it's hurting anyone. Besides, I think I'm coming down with something…"

"I would have thought you of all people would be filled with the Christmas spirit," Trent said, walking around the tree with the first string of multicolored lights.

"Dude. Jesus was born in September." Ethan said, raising his eyebrows.

"You know, I've heard that." Pulling herself from the window, Kira made her way over to the open boxes of glass baubles. "I don't think that should change anything, though. Christmas is like, my third favorite holiday."

"Third?" Trent laughed.

"Yes. Third." She didn't see what was so funny about that.

"The first two being…" He prompted.

"New Year's Day and Thanksgiving, obviously."

"Obviously." He repeated back to her, teasing. She smiled in return.

"If you two get a minute," Conner rolled his eyes. He hated when they got like this. It was like this all summer: constant back and forth. They always invited Ethan and himself along on what should have been dates because they were both to scared to say what was screaming in everyone else's faces. It had gotten better, for Conner anyway, when school started back up and Trent went off to design school an hour away. Trent was only back for two weeks, he reminded himself. "I could use some help here." He pulled his hands from the large box, showing them the deeply tangled mess of garland binding his hands together.

"Oh my god, Conner," Kira exclaimed, jumping to the rescue. She picked at the knots and surveyed the damage. "How'd you manage to do this?"

"Guess you could say that Christmas is out to get me." Conner shrugged, losing circulation in his fingertips. "I'm really bad at Christmas."

"How can you be _bad_ at Christmas?" Ethan asked. "It's not even a verb."

"Easy," Conner began to explain, cringing as his hands were finally freed. "You know those warm and fuzzy Christmas specials and commercials? The ones were the grouchy old men find true spirit of Christmas and whatnot? I've never had a Christmas like that. Never. Even when I was a kid, the only good thing about Christmas was the presents and after a couple of weeks those got old, too. I've just never felt the way you're supposed to feel at Christmas time."

"I can't believe it." Kira sighed. "I'm here with a couple of Christmas haters. The two of you," said wagging her finger at Conner and Ethan. "What a pair of Grinches."

"Okay, let's be fair here," Conner said, throwing his hands up innocently. "First of all, I never said I hated Christmas. I said _it_ hated _me._ Big difference. Second—I'm here aren't I? Breaking and entering in the spirit of making Dr. O's Christmas just a little brighter?"

"It's not breaking and entering!" Trent defended. "We all know that Dr. O has never locked that front door once in his life, and if I happen to come by information that he'll be out of town for the day… Why shouldn't we do something nice?"

"You're just saying that cause this was your idea!" Ethan smirked. "And come by information? Don't you mean eavesdrop on Daddy's phone calls?" Trent shrugged. If it was true, it was true. "What's Dr. O up to, today, anyway?"

"Probably some teacher convention about giving harsher grades." Conner guessed. "Not that he needs it, you should have seen my last test…"

"Poor baby," Ethan mocked, reaching out to pinch at Conner's cheek, but he was too quick. He spun back, accidentally knocking over a box of ornaments, which each shattered into thousands of pieces on contact with the wood floor. Four sets of eyes grew wide as they realized what had happened. "Conner's fault!"

"Dude, all you!"

"Guys, does it really matter?"

"Trent's right. Let's just clean it up." Kira backed up slowly, so as to avoid stepping in the shards. "He's got a broom in the kitchen, right? I'll go get it." She made her way behind the sofa, turning the light on in the hall, until she made her way to Dr. Oliver's kitchen.

"That's right, Kira," Conner called with a laugh from the other room. "Back to the kitchen! A woman's natural habitat!"

"When I get back there, you are so dead, McKnight!" She rolled her eyes. Boys. They never changed. Getting back to the task at hand, she thought. If she were Dr. O, where would she keep the broom? The pantry? She opened the door and found lines of canned food staring back at her, and propped up against the wall, a hand broom and dustpan. She mentally congratulated herself on judging Dr. O's character so well, and grabbed the set.

The inside of the pantry door was decorated with photos she assumed were spill over from his crowded refrigerator. He sure seemed to have a thing for keeping old photos. She ran her fingers over them, smiling. Someday, she hoped to have a collection of happy memories like this one. A young Tommy Oliver smiled back at her from each of the photos, long hair only distracting her a little. One in particular caught her eye: Tommy with his arm around Tommy. Two Dr. Os? Impossible! Deciding that it probably wasn't a clone, she came to the conclusion that it must be a brother. Carefully pulling at the tape, she lifted it away and turned the photo over. In Dr. O's familiar scrawl, she read, "David and Tommy, Summer 1996".

"Guys…" Kira walked back to the living room, still staring at the picture. "Who here knew that Dr. Oliver had a brother?"

"No way," Ethan said skeptically, making a grab for it. "No way! This is, like photoshopped or something."

"Dr. O has a family? Like with parents and stuff?" Conner said, disbelieving. "That's so weird! He's so… well… old!"

"I'll bet that's where he went today!" Trent exclaimed, feeling quite like a detective. "He probably went to Angel Grove to spend the day with his family."

"I'm glad…" Kira smiled. "That's what Christmas is for, isn't it? Spending time with the ones you love..."

"You know Christmas isn't for a week, right?" Conner said, grabbing the dustpan and broom from her hand. He walked over to the scene of the crime and began to clean.

"I told you," Ethan sighed, handing the photo off to Trent and unzipping his coat. "Jesus was born in September!"

The tree trimming went faster than Trent expected. Soon enough, they had something he'd be proud to show to Dr. O.

"It's beautiful," Kira breathed, turning on the twinkle lights.

Trent nodded. "It is pretty nice, isn't it?"

"Perfect." Ethan chimed in, admiring their handiwork.

"Man," Conner said, crossing his arms proudly. "We _are_ good."

"That depends on your definition of good, Conner," A fifth voice sounded from behind them. Slowly, all four heads turned to find Tommy standing in the doorway to the living room, leaning against the wall with a smirk on his lips.

"Aw, man!" Ethan whined. "It was supposed to be a surprise…"

"You really think you can get anything past this old dog?" Tommy laughed, walking in to join them. "It is a nice tree, though. The dinogem ornaments are a nice touch… Did you make those yourselves?"

"Guilty," Kira smiled. "So you like it?"

"I love it," he said, clasping a hand on her shoulder, proudly. "This has to be the nicest thing anyone's ever gotten me for Christmas. Thank you, guys."

"How was your visit?" Trent asked politely. Tommy gave him a sideways glance.

"My visit?"

"You were in Angel Grove today, right?" Confused, Trent shifted his eyes between Dr. O and his friends.

"How do you know about that?"

"I have my sources…"

"Anton?"

"That would be the one," Trent laughed. "Did you see your brother?"

This time, it was Tommy's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about?"

Kira moved over to the coffee table where the photograph had eventually come to rest. Picking it up, she handed it to Tommy. "We, um, found this, and I guess we just assumed that you were in Angel Grove visiting your family."

"Oh, god," Tommy laughed. "Where'd you dig this old thing up from? That's David," He said, pointing out the doppelganger on the left. "He's my biological brother. I was adopted as a kid, and when I was in high school, the summer before my senior year, I think… Anyway, I met David, who was adopted by another family. We didn't really stay in touch, though. I mean, I get a Christmas card every couple of years, but that's about it."

"So," Conner pressed, curiously. "Who were you visiting in Angel Grove?"

"My real family," Tommy smiled, pulling out his wallet. From a plastic sleeve, he pulled out three small photos, each of ranger teams they'd seen in his archives. "And now, I'm back with you, my newest family."

"Aw," Ethan cooed. "Do I feel a group hug coming on? I think I do…" He stretched his arms out, capturing Conner's back and Trent's shoulder. "Come on, everyone, bring it in."

They embraced, closing in on Tommy, who eventually gave in. "It's good to be back."

"Merry Christmas, Dr. O!"

* * *

**A.N.: And a merry Christmas to you dear reader :) Have a happy and safe holiday season! I hope you enjoyed~**


End file.
